Call center will soon report hiring data

Published: Wednesday, January 2, 2013 at 5:44 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, January 2, 2013 at 5:44 p.m.

The city of Ocala will soon know if Sitel Worldwide Corporation has hit its first employment target to be eligible for funds from the city’s Economic Incentive Fund.

The call center company has until Jan. 31 to submit a report to the city of Ocala and Marion County outlining the number of employees it has hired through Dec. 31, 2012.

According to its agreement with the city and county, Sitel was supposed to have hired 150 full-time employees, or the equivalent, by the end of 2012, or at least have made a good faith effort to reach that goal.

“The 150 jobs is, essentially, a target in the agreement,” said Marc Mondell, the city’s executive director of community development. “In other words, it was not a number that was a requirement of the company. We put it in there as an indicator.”

Both the City Council and County Commission voted in May to approve a combined incentive package for Sitel that totals $2.5 million, divided equally, and spread over 10 years in exchange for the company creating 500 new jobs.

The yearly payment made by each government entity may be as high as $125,000, to be made in four quarterly payments of up to $31,250 each for 10 years.

The target date for filling all 500 jobs is Dec. 31, 2014. But, under the agreement, it is not mandatory for the company to reach that employment level. The jobs are supposed to pay an average annual compensation of at least $19,650.

According to Melanie Gaboardi, the city’s senior manager for economic development, the amount of money Sitel will receive will be based on the salaries paid, not the number of employees.

“They would only get credit for the employees they hired based on the salaries paid in that quarter,” Gaboardi said. “There’s a percentage of the grant that they will receive based on the salaries that are paid.”

She said that only two employees earning $50,000 or more in that quarter — which equates to an annual salary of $200,000 or more — may be included in a quarterly report. Any wages above that $50,000 would be excluded.

Mondell said the number of employees and salary information will be gathered from the company’s UCT-6 tax and wage report that must be filed quarterly with the Florida Department of Revenue.

Sitel opened its new call center in the former Taylor, Bean & Whitaker processing center at 1417 North Magnolia Ave. While the number of jobs is not written in stone, what is a firm requirement is that the company must enter a 15-year lease with the owner of the building, NL Ventures VII Magnolia LLC. Sitel has the right, however, to terminate the lease every three years.

Kim Facer, Sitel’s senior vice president of Global Real Estate & Development, did not respond by deadline to verbal and email requests for information regarding the number of Sitel employees in Ocala.

Another call center company, Ansafone Contact Centers LLC, has opened in the former Maslow Insurance Co. building at 101 NE Second St. Ansafone’s incentive agreement with the city is different from Sitel’s.

Instead of cash, Ansafone requested parking spaces to accommodate its employees. According to its agreement, Ansafone’s goal is to hire 300 employees by Dec. 31, 2015, at a minimum average annual wage of $21,800. Ansafone expects to hire 150 employees by the end of this year, when its first report to the city is due.

The city has agreed to buy less than an acre of land south of the Salvation Army on North Magnolia Avenue for $425,000 and build a parking lot on the site, for an estimated cost of $550,000 to be paid from the EIP fund.

The city will own the 70-space parking lot and lease it free of charge to Ansafone, but the company has options, depending on its employment levels. If it reaches the goal of 300 employees and maintains that for 12 months, the city will give Ansafone the parking lot. If it does not hit 300 but, instead, hires 100 employees and maintains them for 12 months, Ansafone has the option of buying the lot from the city at a pro rata formula. If it does not hire 100 employees, Ansafone loses the option on the 70 spaces and the lot remains in city ownership.

The Maslow building has 30 parking spaces. The parking lot will provide 70 spaces. In addition, the city agreed to provide the company 140 spaces, within a jagged radius of three blocks of the facility, as Ansafone’s employment level expands.

<p>The city of Ocala will soon know if Sitel Worldwide Corporation has hit its first employment target to be eligible for funds from the city's Economic Incentive Fund.</p><p>The call center company has until Jan. 31 to submit a report to the city of Ocala and Marion County outlining the number of employees it has hired through Dec. 31, 2012.</p><p>According to its agreement with the city and county, Sitel was supposed to have hired 150 full-time employees, or the equivalent, by the end of 2012, or at least have made a good faith effort to reach that goal.</p><p>“The 150 jobs is, essentially, a target in the agreement,” said Marc Mondell, the city's executive director of community development. “In other words, it was not a number that was a requirement of the company. We put it in there as an indicator.”</p><p>Both the City Council and County Commission voted in May to approve a combined incentive package for Sitel that totals $2.5 million, divided equally, and spread over 10 years in exchange for the company creating 500 new jobs.</p><p>The yearly payment made by each government entity may be as high as $125,000, to be made in four quarterly payments of up to $31,250 each for 10 years.</p><p>The target date for filling all 500 jobs is Dec. 31, 2014. But, under the agreement, it is not mandatory for the company to reach that employment level. The jobs are supposed to pay an average annual compensation of at least $19,650.</p><p>According to Melanie Gaboardi, the city's senior manager for economic development, the amount of money Sitel will receive will be based on the salaries paid, not the number of employees.</p><p>“They would only get credit for the employees they hired based on the salaries paid in that quarter,” Gaboardi said. “There's a percentage of the grant that they will receive based on the salaries that are paid.”</p><p>She said that only two employees earning $50,000 or more in that quarter — which equates to an annual salary of $200,000 or more — may be included in a quarterly report. Any wages above that $50,000 would be excluded.</p><p>Mondell said the number of employees and salary information will be gathered from the company's UCT-6 tax and wage report that must be filed quarterly with the Florida Department of Revenue.</p><p>Sitel opened its new call center in the former Taylor, Bean & Whitaker processing center at 1417 North Magnolia Ave. While the number of jobs is not written in stone, what is a firm requirement is that the company must enter a 15-year lease with the owner of the building, NL Ventures VII Magnolia LLC. Sitel has the right, however, to terminate the lease every three years.</p><p>Kim Facer, Sitel's senior vice president of Global Real Estate & Development, did not respond by deadline to verbal and email requests for information regarding the number of Sitel employees in Ocala.</p><p>Another call center company, Ansafone Contact Centers LLC, has opened in the former Maslow Insurance Co. building at 101 NE Second St. Ansafone's incentive agreement with the city is different from Sitel's.</p><p>Instead of cash, Ansafone requested parking spaces to accommodate its employees. According to its agreement, Ansafone's goal is to hire 300 employees by Dec. 31, 2015, at a minimum average annual wage of $21,800. Ansafone expects to hire 150 employees by the end of this year, when its first report to the city is due.</p><p>The city has agreed to buy less than an acre of land south of the Salvation Army on North Magnolia Avenue for $425,000 and build a parking lot on the site, for an estimated cost of $550,000 to be paid from the EIP fund.</p><p>The city will own the 70-space parking lot and lease it free of charge to Ansafone, but the company has options, depending on its employment levels. If it reaches the goal of 300 employees and maintains that for 12 months, the city will give Ansafone the parking lot. If it does not hit 300 but, instead, hires 100 employees and maintains them for 12 months, Ansafone has the option of buying the lot from the city at a pro rata formula. If it does not hire 100 employees, Ansafone loses the option on the 70 spaces and the lot remains in city ownership.</p><p>The Maslow building has 30 parking spaces. The parking lot will provide 70 spaces. In addition, the city agreed to provide the company 140 spaces, within a jagged radius of three blocks of the facility, as Ansafone's employment level expands.</p><p>Contact Susan Latham Carr at 867-4156 or susan.carr@starbanner.com.</p>